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Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Ardbeg - Bangor

Today was a race against the dying wind. We woke up at 5am, drank some coffee and were on our way. The little wind from the morning was expected to fill in before dying, hopefully after we arrive.

The wind started in an on/off mode. It was either 2 knots or 20 knots from a completely different direction, so the brain that had just woken up had to really concentrate.

As promised by the weather forecast the wind filled and we were flying along wing on wing, untill the tide turned. Then we were punching through choppy seas tick tocking from side to side with a measely 2.5 knots of velocity made good.

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The tides in the north channel don’t run an even 6 and 6 rhythm, but the south going tide lasts longer, so the fight with the current was short lived. At Mull of Kintyre we were past the traffic separation scheme and could again assume our position as the stand on vessel! To celebrate, a pod of dolphins came to play for a while in our bow wave.

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The luscious green hills of Northern Ireland greeted us under sunshine and we were making good progress. Our luck with the wind didn’t though last right to the end of the day, and we needed to motor the last 7 NM. At least we had a nice windstill to drive in the massive marina of Bangor, 560 boats! We found our assigned berth thanks to good instructions by the marina staff.

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Now we need to do a bit of housekeeping on Lille Ø as the last trash can and laundry machine were seen in the Outer Hebrides.



From the logbook

Time Position Course Speed Log Weather Remarks
16.07. 4:56 Z 55°38'18"N 6°6'24"W 112° 0kt 5363.8NM wind 2.3kt 87° baro 1009 hPa Started main engine
16.07. 5:01 Z 55°38'13"N 6°6'30"W 214° 4.1kt 5363.8NM wind 4.5kt 218° baro 1009 hPa Motoring
16.07. 5:13 Z 55°37'33"N 6°6'55"W 146° 2.7kt 5364.7NM wind 6.9kt 321° baro 1009 hPa Motor stopped, sailing with Main, Staysail
16.07. 5:47 Z 55°35'48"N 6°5'33"W 158° 5.2kt 5366.6NM wind 13.6kt 288° baro 1009 hPa Autopilot activated
16.07. 6:00 Z 55°34'45"N 6°4'47"W 150° 4.7kt 5367.7NM wind 9.9kt 307° baro 1009 hPa Hourly position log
16.07. 6:23 Z 55°33'1"N 6°3'20"W 150° 5kt 5369.7NM wind 13.8kt 306° sea state 2/10 clouds 8/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1010 hPa Grey day.
16.07. 7:00 Z 55°30'1"N 6°1'0"W 144° 5.2kt 5372.9NM wind 14.3kt 339° baro 1010 hPa Hourly position log
16.07. 7:27 Z 55°28'9"N 5°59'33"W 138° 5kt 5375NM wind 13.1kt 325° sea state 3/10 clouds 7/8 visibility 8/10 baro 1010 hPa Sails flapping a bit in the growing swell
16.07. 8:00 Z 55°25'54"N 5°57'45"W 149° 4.3kt 5377.5NM wind 11.3kt 314° baro 1011 hPa Hourly position log
16.07. 8:49 Z 55°22'51"N 5°55'25"W 145° 4.7kt 5380.8NM wind 14.6kt 279° sea state 3/10 clouds 8/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1011 hPa Current has turned contrary now. Let's see what wind against current does today
16.07. 9:00 Z 55°22'7"N 5°54'56"W 151° 4.5kt 5381.6NM wind 14.8kt 298° baro 1011 hPa Hourly position log
16.07. 9:26 Z 55°20'43"N 5°53'46"W 175° 2.6kt 5383.1NM wind 15.9kt 305° baro 1011 hPa Waves are getting a bit steeper, but so far we surf them quite fine. 2-3kt current
16.07. 10:00 Z 55°19'28"N 5°53'10"W 187° 2.2kt 5384.5NM wind 11.3kt 308° baro 1012 hPa Hourly position log
16.07. 11:00 Z 55°16'47"N 5°51'5"W 185° 4.8kt 5387.4NM wind 18.8kt 289° baro 1012 hPa Hourly position log
16.07. 11:26 Z 55°14'50"N 5°50'19"W 171° 5.5kt 5389.4NM wind 23kt 286° sea state 3/10 clouds 8/8 visibility 8/10 baro 1012 hPa We made the turn out of Scotland. Tide now only half against us.
16.07. 11:48 Z 55°13'3"N 5°49'33"W 166° 4.8kt 5391.3NM wind 19.6kt 296° baro 1012 hPa Started watermaker, 169ppm
16.07. 12:00 Z 55°12'3"N 5°49'4"W 161° 5.2kt 5392.3NM wind 20.7kt 271° baro 1013 hPa Hourly position log
16.07. 12:22 Z 55°10'10"N 5°48'7"W 164° 4.3kt 5394.3NM wind 16.1kt 279° sea state 3/10 clouds 7/8 visibility 8/10 baro 1013 hPa Dolphins look epic when they're inside a wave rolling towards you at eye height
16.07. 13:00 Z 55°6'48"N 5°47'9"W 171° 6.7kt 5397.7NM wind 18.4kt 288° baro 1013 hPa Hourly position log
16.07. 13:32 Z 55°3'53"N 5°46'18"W 175° 4.5kt 5400.7NM wind 16kt 308° sea state 3/10 clouds 4/8 visibility 8/10 baro 1014 hPa Starting to get good views of Ireland. Quite different landscape from Scotland
16.07. 14:00 Z 55°1'27"N 5°45'16"W 159° 5.8kt 5403.2NM wind 14.1kt 325° baro 1013 hPa Hourly position log
16.07. 14:47 Z 54°57'43"N 5°43'18"W 163° 5.6kt 5407.1NM wind 12.3kt 346° baro 1014 hPa Sails set: Main, Genoa 1
16.07. 15:00 Z 54°56'27"N 5°42'54"W 171° 5.7kt 5408.4NM wind 12.6kt 339° baro 1014 hPa Hourly position log
16.07. 15:48 Z 54°52'12"N 5°41'17"W 177° 4.9kt 5412.7NM wind 9.8kt 358° baro 1014 hPa Stopped watermaker, 148ppm
16.07. 15:59 Z 54°51'21"N 5°41'4"W 173° 4kt 5413.6NM wind 11.5kt 349° baro 1014 hPa Wind shift, we had to gybe the schmetti
16.07. 16:00 Z 54°51'17"N 5°41'2"W 154° 4.1kt 5413.7NM wind 11.3kt 355° sea state 2/10 clouds 6/8 visibility 8/10 baro 1014 hPa Hourly position log
16.07. 16:25 Z 54°49'22"N 5°40'14"W 158° 3.7kt 5415.7NM wind 8.3kt 19° baro 1014 hPa Sails down, motoring. Not enough apparent to keep sails from slatting
16.07. 17:00 Z 54°45'59"N 5°40'9"W 183° 5.9kt 5419NM wind 7.3kt 24° baro 1014 hPa Hourly position log
16.07. 17:50 Z 54°41'19"N 5°40'32"W 180° 5.4kt 5423.7NM wind 6kt 15° baro 1014 hPa Autopilot deactivated
16.07. 18:00 Z 54°40'30"N 5°40'37"W 174° 5.1kt 5424.5NM wind 8.1kt 67° baro 1014 hPa Hourly position log
16.07. 18:20 Z 54°39'52"N 5°40'14"W 142° 0kt 5425.5NM wind 2.3kt 56° baro 1015 hPa Stopped